City break suggestions please

whiskeygalore

Wife and daughter are looking for a 4/5 night city break abroad, have been looking but everything seems rather expensive,ideally a location where some real shopping bargains are to be had and not to expensive to get there and stay It has to be mid August as daughter starts teaching in Sept.

All suggestions/experiences and advice would be very welcome

alba7

Hi whiskeygalore

How about Barcelona? It really depends on your budget but there's plenty of shopping and culture activities.

It will probably be cheaper to get a hotel outside the city centre and use public transport. I found the underground quite quick and easy to use to get around and prices were reasonable.

I believe prices in Barcelona are going up but we managed to eat for about 10 Euros each in a tapas bar (including wine) in Barceloneta.

Good luck with your search!

tori.k

I would second Barcelona it has a fantastic cheap train service so you could always stay up the coast and travel in and save a few ££

markwilkinson

Barcelona is lovely, have been many times. Other than Barcelona a few weeks ago our last city break was to Prague and enjoyed it very much, wouldn't hesitate to go back.

Bob_the_Saver

Istanbul........................

davidlizard

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

Istanbul........................

Also recommend Istanbul because it is so different there - east meeting west and all that lot, with tons of history (and shopping).

However August might be a bit on the warm side?

Venice is another place I would strongly recommend again for the uniqueness of it, but again depends how warm you want. Not sure whether its a place for shopping though.

Bob_the_Saver

davidlizard wrote: »

Also recommend Istanbul because it is so different there - east meeting west and all that lot, with tons of history (and shopping).

However August might be a bit on the warm side?

Venice is another place I would strongly recommend again for the uniqueness of it, but again depends how warm you want. Not sure whether its a place for shopping though.

30-33 ish that's about all (usually)

totallybored

I recommend Istanbul too as the shopping is amazing there. Just make sure it won't be Eid (Ramadan is quite early this year) as the Grand bazaar and spice markets shut for a couple of days. Istanbul is also a very cheap city for eating out and drinking unlike most of Europe.

I'd only go to Italy on a shopping weekend with a huge budget. Do you know how much a handbag there can cost? Forget Paris too.

Lisbon is good for shopping I found, I bought lots of house stuff and Zara is much cheaper than in the UK and Netherlands. Cheap drinking and eating too.

Doshwaster

totallybored wrote: »

Lisbon is good for shopping I found, I bought lots of house stuff and Zara is much cheaper than in the UK and Netherlands. Cheap drinking and eating too.

I don't care about shopping but I really like Lisbon too. It's like a mini version of Barcelona - just a lot cheaper and not so overcrowded. Local public transport is really cheap too so you can head along to coast to the seaside towns of Cascais and Estoril or up into the mountains to Sintra.

ruby_eskimo

I would say Prague, it's a gorgeous city, and the exchange rate is quite favourable.

Hobsons_Choice

Krakow's a beautiful city and they use the zloty, exchange is about 5zloty/£ so cheap to eat out etc.
Easy to get to from airport, with a dedicated small train within walking distance, drops you off in the old town, right inside the massive shopping centre.